Noah Wyle Expresses Heartfelt Regret and Disappointment Over Lawsuit from ER Creator’s Widow Sherri Crichton
ER alum Noah Wyle stars in and serves as an executive producer for the new Max medical drama, The Pitt. In August 2024, the estate of ER creator Michael Crichton filed a lawsuit against Wyle and others involved with The Pitt, asserting that “The Pitt is ER.” Wyle expressed to Variety that the lawsuit “taints the legacy” of ER, which originally premiered 30 years ago in 1994.
The Pitt has the potential to be one of the standout new shows of 2025, yet the creators of ER’s estate believe it closely resembles the iconic medical drama. Wyle, who played Dr. John Carter for 13 seasons on ER, is now stepping back into the role of a doctor more than 15 years after his tenure on the show concluded. Before The Pitt debuted on Max in January, Sherri Crichton, Michael Crichton’s widow, filed a lawsuit against Wyle, The Pitt creator R. Scott Gemmill, executive producer John Wells, and Warner Bros. Television. The legal action involves claims of breach of contract, breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing, and intentional interference with contractual relations.
Wyle shared his feelings of profound sadness and disappointment regarding the lawsuit, which describes The Pitt as “a shameful betrayal of Crichton and his legacy” and accuses the team of a “callous disregard for Crichton’s inception of ER.” “This taints the legacy, and it shouldn’t have,” Wyle remarked. “At one point, this could have been a partnership. And when it wasn’t a partnership, it didn’t need to turn acrimonious. But on the 30th anniversary of ER, I’ve never felt less celebratory of that achievement than I do this year.”
Plans were initially in place for an ER reboot, but negotiations with Sherri Crichton fell through, effectively halting the project. Consequently, Wyle noted, “we pivoted as far in the opposite direction as we could in order to tell the story we wanted to tell. And not for litigious reasons, but because we didn’t want to retread our own creative work.”
Despite this, the lawsuit filed in August 2024 claims, “The Pitt is ER. It’s not like ER, it’s not kind of ER, it’s not sort of ER. It is ER complete with the same executive producer, writer, star, production companies, studio, and network as the planned ER reboot. No one has been fooled.”
Wyle acknowledges that one aspect of ER has indeed carried over to The Pitt: the relationships established among the cast and crew. “We see each other fall in love, get married, have children, get divorced,” he explained. “Those relationships transcend the screen and become palpable to an audience who wants to be part of that family. I’ve tried to create it in every job I’ve gone on, but with varying degrees of success.”
Wyle wanted to return to portraying a doctor in response to messages he received from first responders during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. “They were saying things like, ‘Carter, where are you? It’s really hard out here,’” the five-time Emmy nominee recalled.
As a result, he aimed to create a show that highlights the trust and admiration placed in health practitioners. “When the shit hits the fan, we are expecting that white knight to come charging in on his horse. Then the horse comes in without its rider, and we don’t know where the hero is, and it’s because … he’s on the floor,” Wyle stated.
The Pitt streams Thursdays at 9 p.m. ET on Max.
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